"We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides", he told reporters at his New Jersey golf course, without specifically mentioning or faulting the role of white nationalists.

He said: "Since the start of the Trump presidency, the American white-supremacist movement has been growing in confidence".

Under relentless pressure, President Donald Trump on Monday named and condemned "repugnant" hate groups and declared that "racism is evil" in a far more forceful statement than he'd made earlier after deadly, race-fueled weekend clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Sunday, the White House offered a statement on background claiming the President's remarks included a condemnation of white supremacy and "all extremist groups".

President Trump didn't call out white supremacists and neo-Nazis in his public comments on Saturday after the disturbances.

The White House is saying that President Donald Trump "very strongly" condemns individual hate groups such as "white supremacists, KKK and neo-Nazis".

A 20-year-old man said to have harbored Nazi sympathies as a teenager was facing charges he plowed his vehicle into protesters opposing the white nationalists, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 people. We are a nation founded under the truth that all of us are created equal.

On a visit to Colombia, Vice President Mike Pence said: "These risky fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms".

But he declined to say whether he was rejecting political support from white supremacists, many of them Trump voters in last year's presidential election.

Mr Trump said anyone who engaged in criminal behaviour over the weekend in Virginia would be held to account. It fits his typical demagogue style of framing everything as an epic battle of good and evil, and as presenting himself as the unfairly smeared Dear Leader who is just trying to help America out of the goodness of his heart. "And we're going to prosecute anybody, to the full extent of the law, that violates their ability to do so".

"I wish that he would have said those same words on Saturday", responded Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia on MSNBC. Trump's statements were slammed by politicians, celebrities, and members of the news media for being weak.

Trump's address Monday came after a meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Warren said: "How can President Trump show whose side he's on?"

At his January inauguration, black-clad anti-Trump protesters in Washington smashed windows, torched cars and clashed with police, leading to more than 200 arrests.

Trump also remained mum on Twitter, declining to send a single tweet of his own Sunday, only the fourth in his 207 days as president that Trump has gone a full day without tweeting a message of his own. Nothing specific against us.